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Monday, 2 April 2012

Top Ten Quotes on Autism

Good Morning, today is 'World Autism Awareness Day'. To mark the event, I have found ten great quotes either specifically on Autism or with relevance to how we understand and approach this aspect of humanity.

>>“It seems that for success
in science and art, a dash of autism is essential.” - Hans Asperger

>>“Nobody realizes that some
people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.” - Albert Camus

>>“I don't know what causes
autism, but I know what causes autistic people to suffer and that is the
reduction of our identities to a medical problem that has to be cured.”- Zach
Richter

>>“When something happens,
the only thing in your power is your attitude toward it; you can either accept
it or resent it. What really frightens and dismays us is not external events themselves,
but the way in which we think about them. It is not things that disturb us, but
our interpretation of their significance.” – Epictetus

>> “Autism is not a disease, a
disorder, or something holding me prisoner in a shell. Autism is a culture, a
lifestyle, and a way of being.” - Kassiane Sibley

>>“If I could snap my
fingers and be nonautistic, I would not—because then I wouldn't be me. Autism
is part of who I am.” - Temple Grandin

>>“Neurodiversity; What a beautiful word
that encompasses the reality that God has many different ways to build a brain.”
- Kathleen Seidel

>>” … research demonstrates
that autistic traits are distributed into the non-autistic population; some
people have more of them, some have fewer. History suggests that many
individuals whom we would today diagnose as autistic – some severely so –
contributed profoundly to our art, our math, our science, and our literature. “
- Morton Gernsbacher

>> “Someone with Asperger’s
really is like you, just more extreme.” - Dr. Winnie Dunn

And my favourite:

>>“Imagine a world where
Aspergers was the norm, and non-autistics or neurotypicals were the minority. Let's
try it: Those who feel the need to constantly be with a variety of friends are
considered fickle. Those with no propensity for computers and science are
called geeks. Those with no special interest are thought to be ungrounded and
lost. Those without obsessive focus have to take classes to cultivate it.” - Rudy
Simone

Within my own setting, Thornleigh Salesian College, I have sought to raise awareness of Autismwith an after-school training session - which was both well-attended and well-received by colleagues. The full training session can be downloaded freely from here, and the powerpoint part can be viewed online here.